Everyone immediately thinks of hair oil when discussing use of coconut oil for various products. Yes, it is best for your hair’s health. But it also has interesting health benefits that you should consider including in your diet.
Due to the method of production that preserves the antioxidant content as well as the flavour and nutritional value, people prefer cold-pressed oil over time. Many people laud it for its potential for weight loss as well as its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, which improve skin and oral health.
What is Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil?
In essence, cold pressing is a method of naturally extracting oil by crushing the seeds at room temperature. There are no chemicals or preservatives used in this conventional method of extracting oil. Natural goodness, essential nutrients, rich aroma, and flavour of fresh coconuts are preserved and retained thanks to the cold pressing technology. Therefore, the healthiest way to obtain coconut oil for use is by cold pressing.
Amazing Benefits of Cold Pressed Coconut Oil
1. Encourages Weight Management
Coconut oil aids in reducing the risk of weight gain, maintaining a healthy lipid profile, and suppressing appetite. Additionally, it helps to support healthy thyroid gland function, boosts energy and metabolism to help with weight loss.
Medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), a type of saturated fat, are abundant in coconut oil. MCTs increase the body’s metabolism, promote satiety, and aid in preventing the buildup of body fat. While MCTs may increase your calorie burn, you should be aware that coconut oil has a high calorie content and can quickly cause weight gain if you consume a lot of it.
2. Coconut Oil could have a natural energising effect.
As a natural energy booster, coconut oil is more effective than sugary energy drinks. The MCTs in the oil are immediately transported to our liver where they function as carbohydrates, supplying a plentiful and ready source of energy.
Similar to how carbohydrates, MCTs travel directly to your liver where they quickly turn into a source of energy. In fact, MCTs have long been a component of sports nutrition products for athletes who need a quick-acting energy source.
3. Helps in Diabetes Management
Coconut oil is extremely beneficial for controlling diabetes. Oil’s healthy fat can effectively control how sugar affects your body. Coconut oil contains phenolic compounds that have been shown to have anti-diabetic and insulin-sensitizing properties.
Additionally, it raises the level of good cholesterol while lowering bad cholesterol levels. Consequently, a great choice for diabetics.
4. Coconut Oil Helps Fight Neurogenerative Diseases like Alzheimer’s
The most typical cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease.
The condition makes it harder for your brain to burn glucose for energy. Therefore, the body produces ketones to serve as an energy source. The body primarily produces Ketones when blood sugar levels are low. Coconut oil is therefore the best choice to increase ketone production.
Additionally, adding coconut oil to the diets of patients with dementia or Alzheimer’s has had a dramatic impact on their symptoms, as well as the disease’s progression.
5. Coconut Oil may have Antimicrobial Effect
Coconut oil’s MCT content, specifically lauric acid, has antimicrobial and antifungal properties. About 50% of the MCTs in coconut oil are made up of the fatty acid lauric acid.
Lauric acid may be used to treat microbial infections because research indicates that it has broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties. According to reports, lauric acid can also regulate the composition of the gut microbiota, which is essential for better immunity and digestion. Lauric acid can be used as an effective alternative therapy to treat skin infections like acne vulgaris, according to the findings of another study.
6. May Help Reduce Seizures
The MCT ketogenic diet is frequently used to treat paediatric epilepsy that is resistant to treatment. This diet increases the level of medium-chain fatty acids in the plasma. Because MCT oil is so prevalent in virgin coconut oil, it supports the possibility that virgin coconut oil can help prevent seizures.
The decrease in seizure frequency observed in epilepsy patients following a ketogenic diet, according to researchers, is by the absence of glucose available to fuel brain cells.
7. Coconut Oil Improves Skin Health
Antioxidants and vitamin E found in virgin coconut oil can moisturise the skin and support skin integrity maintenance. According to studies, coconut oil can increase the moisture level of dry skin. Additionally, it might enhance the skin’s ability to retain moisture and defend against aggressors like allergens, chemicals, and infectious agents.
Additionally, it might lessen the severity of the mild to moderate symptoms of atopic dermatitis, a chronic skin condition marked by skin inflammation and deficiencies in the function of the skin barrier.
8. Protects Hair Health
Virgin coconut oil contains lauric acid, which significantly benefits the health of our hair.Due to its low molecular weight and linear chain, lauric acid can pass through the hair shaft despite its strong attraction for hair proteins. Consequently, it can provide nourishment.
According to one study, coconut oil makes hair strands more flexible and strong to prevent breakage under tension because it deeply penetrates them. Similar to this, another study found that coconut oil strengthens hair by nourishing strands and reducing breakage.
9. Coconut Oil May improve Oral Health
Traditional Ayurvedic medicine uses oil pulling as a technique to enhance oral hygiene and dental health. It can significantly reduce the amount of harmful bacteria in the mouth. Additionally, lauric acid has antiviral and antimicrobial properties that guarantee complete oral hygiene.
How to do coconut oil pulling:
- Take a tablespoon of coconut oil that is of high quality.
- Fill your mouth with it. Do not ingest it.
- Spend about 20 minutes swishing it around in your mouth, and then spit it out.
What time of day is ideal for oil pulling?: Perform coconut oil pulling in the morning before breakfast or tooth brushing.
Precautions while doing oil pulling: Avoid swallowing the oil after oil pulling because it still contains all the toxins of your mouth.
10. Coconut Oil is a great Source of Antioxidants
Antioxidants, such as those found in coconut oil, aid in scavenging dangerous molecules known as free radicals. In turn, this aids in the prevention of a number of chronic and degenerative diseases.
Some of the major types of Antioxidants found in the oil include:
- tocotrienols
- flavonoids
- tocopherols
- polyphenols
- phytosterols
Coconut oil may have anti-inflammatory and brain-protective properties thanks to its antioxidant content.
Nutritional Value of coconut oil:
Bioactive substances are among the many nutritional components found in coconut oil.
| Nutrition | Value per 100 g |
| Energy | 833 kcal |
| Fat | 99 g |
| Carbohydrates | 0.84 g |
| Calcium | 1 mg |
| Iron | 0.1 mg |
The Bottom Line
It’s time to incorporate cold-pressed coconut oil into your daily routine now that you are aware of its advantages. Adding coconut oil to your diet and using it topically both have a number of health benefits.
Be cautious when consuming it, though. To reduce your risk of heart disease, health professionals advise keeping your intake moderate.
Read more:
Why cold pressed oil is better than refined oil?
Arnica Hair Oil: Its Amazing Benefits, Side Effects and More
आपके बालों के लिए घी: इसके अद्भुत फायदे और सावधानियां
